Still digging through the Coachella tapes from two weeks ago, I came across this stand-out performance from Toro y Moi, recorded on April 11th.

I admit, I wasn’t all that familiar with him until Coachella. And then I heard some of his recorded work and was blown away. I wondered why I hadn’t heard of him before – but I guess it goes to prove you can’t be everywhere all the time.

Suffice to say, Toro y Moi (or Chazwick Bradley Bundick in real life) has been actively around since 2008, and is a prominent figure in the Chillwave movement, as well as his work producing other artists.

In a live context, Toro y Moi comes with a full band and brings the whole thing to life in a luxuriant sort of way. I was struck at how much this reminded me of some of the Canterbury-period bands (i.e. early Soft Machine and Caravan). But I don’t think the similarities are conscious. All I know is, I like his work a lot – and his music, like all good music, gets under your skin and stays there. He makes a lasting impression, and that speaks volumes about his talent as a writer and musician.

I will definitely be running more live material as I find it – Toro y Moi is definitely an artist to keep an eye out for. He was one of the highlights at Coachella this year.

Pick a day. Any day.

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Gordon Skene, two-time Grammy Nominee and archivist runs The Gordon Skene Sound Archive and this website, which is dedicated to preserving and encouraging an interest in history and historic news, events, and cultural aspects of our society. Past Daily is the only place on the Internet where you can hear a Nixon speech, listen to an interview with John Cassavettes or play a broadcast of Charles Munch rehearsing the Boston Symphony in 1950, all in the same place. It's living history and it's timeless.